30.01.2024

Strong year for JLG

JLG’s parent company Oshkosh has reported its full year results, which show strong full year growth for the access division, but a slower fourth quarter.

Full year results
The access division, which is largely made up of JLG and Hinowa, saw full year revenues rise by more than 25 percent to $4.99 billion. This was broken down as follows:

Aerial lifts - $2.46 billion +26.5%
Telehandlers - $1.48 billion +26%
Other - $1.05 billion +24%

Operating profit for the division more than doubled to $738.8 million, mainly due to higher prices/a better customer mix and higher sales volume, offset in part by increased operating expenses and sales costs.

Backlog, Order book
The order book at the end of December was $4.53 billion, compared to $4.36 billion a year ago, an increase of four percent. The backlog was boosted by $1.7 billion of new orders in the fourth quarter, for delivery in 2024.

2024 forecast
The company is forecasting revenues of $5.2 billion for 2024, with a margin of 15 percent - roughly the same as this year.

Fourth Quarter
Fourth quarter revenues increased 7.1 percent to $1.15 billion - including $15.9 million related to the Hinowa acquisition. The results were broken down as follows:

Aerial lifts - $540.4 million -0.5%
Telehandlers - $354.2 million +11%
Other - $255.7 million +19.5%

Operating profit for the division jumped 39.8 percent to $162.2 million, primarily due to the same reasons as for the full year.

Oshkosh as a whole posted full year revenues of $9.66 billion, a rise of almost 17 percent, while pre-tax profit almost tripled to $797.6 million.

Oshkosh chief executive John Pfeifer said: “Oshkosh delivered a strong fourth quarter to cap off a very successful year for our company, highlighted by full year 2023 revenues of $9.7 billion, we have been putting the building blocks in place to deliver sustainable growth in the future. Our fourth quarter was highlighted by strong revenue and earnings growth with solid order levels across our business, and particularly in our Access segment, leading to a record backlog of $16.8 billion, which provides us with considerable visibility into the future. I want to thank our 17,000 team members for their hard work and dedication to our shared success.”

Vertikal Comment

This is a very strong result from JLG, with strong sales of both aerial work platforms and telehandlers. The fourth quarter shows a strong slowdown in terms of invoicing growth, driven by a strong order intake later in the quarter, for delivery in the New Year. The company starts 2024 with a very strong order book that covers much of the year, before it got underway. That almost certainly means long lead times that will inevitably play into the hands of competitors.

In summary though a very impressive performance from JLG and Hinowa.